‘Why not play an extra pure batter’ – Former cricketer questions Mohammed Siraj’s selection in 1st Test against England

The Indian cricket team recently faced a terrible loss against England at the first test match of England’s tour of India at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on 28 January. The Indian batting lineup was dismissed at a score of 202 runs as England won the match by 28 runs on day 4 itself, and multiple questions were raised about the team’s performance. 

Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel questioned the selection of the pacer Mohammed Siraj in the game if he was allowed to bowl only 6-7 overs in the game. Patel believes that Rohit Sharma could have played an extra batsman instead of Siraj if he was planning to make him bowl only a few overs, as he went wicketless in both innings. 

Parthiv Patel on India playing Siraj instead of an extra batsman 

“There is no doubt that 3 spinners are enough, but I have a different perspective. You have used Siraj for only 6 or 7 overs throughout the Test match. Axar Patel played ahead of Kuldeep Yadav due to his batting abilities, as mentioned by Rohit Sharma before the Test match. If you need variety, you could pick Kuldeep ahead of Axar,” Parthiv said on Jio Cinema.

“And if you are not using Siraj much, then why not play an extra pure batter. So, you will have three types of bowlers in Ashwin, Jadeja and Kuldeep, and the extra batter will add depth to the batting. And there’s no point playing someone if you are going to give him only 7 overs,” he added.

In the postman ceremony after losing the game on Day 4, Indian captain Rohit Sharma said, “I wanted them (Siraj and Bumrah) to take the game to the fifth day. 20-30 runs, anything is possible. The lower order fought really well there and showed the top-order that you need to fight it out. You need to show character, you need to be brave enough, which I thought we weren’t. We wanted to take some chances, we didn’t take chances with the bat. But that can happen. It’s the first game of the series, I hope the guys can learn from that.”